Uses central place theory and a trade center hierarchy to examine changes in size and function of communities in Saskatchewan, 1961-90. Finds shift of population to larger centers and pronounced decline in hierarchical level of smaller trade centers, leading to questions of smaller communities' feasibility, Suggests possibility of coordination…

Uses 1950-90 census data to examine population trends in six northern Plains and Rocky Mountain states. Finds that, except for the rural turnaround of the 1970s, metropolitan counties grew faster than nonmetropolitan; nonmetropolitan counties containing larger communities grew in all four decades; and counties with smaller communities lost…